Essex police officer posed as teen to get images of children

A police officer has been jailed after he tricked children into sending him explicit images by pretending to be a teenager.

Mark Ling used TikTok and Snapchat to get teenage girls to take part in “loyalty tests” where he would ask them to send sexual pictures of themselves.

The 39-year-old, formerly of Ipswich, Suffolk, was sacked by Essex Police after he admitted 13 sexual offences involving children.

Judge Martyn Levett said Ling was a “a sophisticated sex offender” as he jailed him for four years and six months at Ipswich Crown Court.

Ling joined the force as a police constable in Essex in 2010 and later served in one of its operational support groups.

Prosecutor Nicola May told Ipswich Crown Court Ling had used the phone owned by a member of his family to set up social media accounts where he posed as a teenager.

He used images of children to make his fake accounts appear real.

She said he initially used TikTok under the account name “Jessie” to join live streams where so-called “loyalty tests” were being organised, where teenagers would ask others to message their partners to test their relationships.

On TikTok, posing as a teenage girl, Ling asked young girls to add a Snapchat account of a purported teenage boy named “Tom”.

Ling then asked the girls to “tease” the boy and ask if he was single as part of the “loyalty test”.

In reality Ling was behind the “Tom” account as well.

Ms May said he “emotionally manipulated” 12 victims, who were aged between 12 and 14.

The court heard one 14-year-old victim told the police the incident was “deeply traumatising” and said she had since suffered with panic attacks.

A 13-year-old victim, who had ADHD and autism, said she feared the person behind the fake “boyfriend” account would come to her home as she had left on a location setting in Snapchat.

Ling entered guilty pleas to the charges in January and February.

Dressed in a white jumper with slicked back dark hair, Ling listened to Ms May set out the case while staring at the floor in the court dock.

Defence barrister Emma Kutner said Ling was “disgusted” by his behaviour and wished “to apologise to his victims”.

Judge Levett told Ling that as he was a serving police officer: “You would have known how serious the offences you were committing were” and that he would have known the impact the crimes would have on victims.

The judge also criticised the trend of “loyalty tests”, saying they are “harming a generation of young people”.

Essex Police said that Ling had been sacked from the force following an “accelerated misconduct hearing” in December 2024.

Chief Constable BJ Harrington said: “Mark Ling is a serial offender who has no place in policing.

“He does not represent the thousands of hardworking, professional and dedicated officers, staff, and volunteers who work tirelessly each day to keep you safe.

“I know they are as disgusted at Ling’s actions as the public will be.”

An NSPCC spokesperson said: “As a police officer Ling was supposed to be there to protect young people.

“This case highlights how offenders like Ling are moving their communications with a child from an open platform like TikTok to a private messaging app like Snapchat, allowing for abuse to take place unseen.

“We need to see stronger regulation of private messaging platforms.”

TikTok told the BBC that they do not tolerate child sexual exploitation and place restrictions on young people’s accounts and have technology that looks for signs of grooming.

The BBC contacted Snapchat for comment.